Chapter Eleven
By the time Hex made it to the clubhouse he’d finished most of the coffee in his mug. He hoped to hell there was someone around to make more. He could do it, but if whatever Cypher had to tell him was so important, he didn’t want to delay any more than he had to.
In the common room he saw several of his brothers, along with a few of the women they called the Savage Belles, they were club pussy and available for anyone in the club.
Mixed in with the Belles were a few Savage Angels.
Those were the women who worked at the strip club the Warriors owned on the other side of Wilmer.
It looked like they’d all passed out wherever they’d fallen the night before.
After having been around the club for a few years, Hex didn’t even blink at the couple lying on top of the pool table, though he did make a mental note to make sure one of the prospects cleaned it.
Leaving everyone where they lay, he headed for the command center and Cypher.
“What did you find?” he asked as he stepped into the brightly lit room and narrowed his eyes. It was too early for this shit.
“One Mr. Michael Anderson, realtor, has a sordid past,” Cypher said, glancing his way before turning his attention back to his screens.
“What do you mean?” Hex scowled and grabbed the extra chair for whoever was watching monitors during the day and sat.
“Well, to start with he spends at least one weekend a month, sometimes more, in Biloxi.”
“So? He probably has business there.”
“Business that results in at least a hundred dollars a night in several known gay bars? Different clubs each trip. It’s almost like he’s rotating through them.”
That caught Hex’s attention. Anderson was gay? That would explain why he wasn’t all that interested in sex with Elle before the wedding. He leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Tell me more.”
Cypher took a deep breath and started talking.
“He stays in the same hotel every time, stays at least three nights and according to the key logs, he’s not alone.”
“How can you tell that?”
“The system tracks not only when someone uses a key at a door, but also which key as well as every time the door is opened, even from the inside. He always gets two keys, and you can tell from the pattern of which is used and when that there are at least two people.”
“Is it always the same person or different people?”
Cypher shook his head. “Impossible to tell. At least so far. I’m working on going through the security footage at the bars, but it’s taking longer than I anticipated, because of the sheer volume of it.”
Hex nodded. “What else?”
Cypher let out a dry chuckle. “That’s where it gets really interesting.
Good ol’ Mikey isn’t as lily clean as he likes to pretend.
Aside from his mint julip jaunts, there are several things.
Mikey has a need for speed, and not the kind that keep you off the police radar.
He’s had at least one ticket a month for the last three years.
Not sure who he’s paying off to keep from losing his license. Want me to fix that?”
Hex blinked. It took his mind a moment to catch up to Cypher’s question.
“Maybe. Not yet. Tell me the rest of it.”
“Well, according to what I’ve found, he’s at least a hundred grand in debt to Harry the Horse.”
“Harry the Horse?” Hex blinked, not sure he wanted to know.
“He’s a bookie out of Pensacola, called that because he only handles horses. As in racing. On top of the debt, good ol’ Mikey makes at least one trip a year to either Gulfstream or Oaklawn, sometime both.”
Hex nodded then shook his head. “Damn. I need more coffee before I can work all this out. Got any in here?”
“Nope. You know I don’t touch the stuff. The fridge has energy drinks though.” He motioned to a dorm fridge in one corner.
“I hate that shit.”
“Sorry, it’s all I’ve got.”
Hex went to the fridge and opened the door.
He scanned the contents and frowned that there were so many options.
Didn’t people who drank these find a flavor or two they liked and stick with those?
And what was with the flavor names? Cosmic popsicle?
What the fuck was that? He grabbed one with a weird but recognizable name, Cherry.
He could go for that, but why on earth call it Midnight Cherry?
Whatever. He needed the caffeine more than he cared about the taste.
He opened the can and tipped it back, taking several long swallows before lowering it.
A shudder passed through him as he really preferred hot to cold, though the flavor wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t imagine how the sweet bubbly liquid would taste if it was hot. Probably better not to find out.
“Ok, so we’ve got gay and not out of the closet, screwing around, speeding, and gambling. Is that all?”
“That’s the big stuff. There’s a few more, mostly minor shit like the occasional drunk and disorderly.
Oddly, given his penchants for speed and alcohol, he’s never gotten a DUI.
” Cypher shook his head. “I’m not sure if that’s because he’s smart enough not to drink and drive or he’s just managed to keep from being ticketed for it.
” The Warrior’s hacker spun in his chair to meet Hex’s gaze.
“I don’t think he’s smart enough not to drink and drive, not when you look at all the rest of this. ”
“Then how do you think he’s not been caught at it?”
“I don’t think it’s that he’s not been caught, but that he’s not been caught by someone he can’t either talk his way around or buy off.” Cypher spun back to face his screen.
“What makes you say that?”
“Educated guess.” Cypher didn’t even look at him.
“So this ass face owes his bookie more than a hundred grand, he’s making at least one trip a month, sometimes more, into Biloxi to hook up with an unknown number of men, and we think he’s paying off either cops or judges to get out of speeding or possibly DUI charges. Does that cover it all?”
“That’s what I have so far.”
“What part of that was so important that I needed to come hear it now?”
Cypher sighed. “Well, maybe it wasn’t enough to get you out of bed for, but it felt like it at the time.
However, in the last few minutes I finally cracked a bit deeper into Harry’s system.
And into his email. I love how easy finding out things has become when these idiots use things like email and text messages to plan and execute their crimes. ”
“Were they really that stupid?” Hex stared at Cypher with wide eyes.
“They were.” Cypher shook her head. “But on the plus side, I now know that Harry has been cracking down on Anderson. According to the emails back and forth with one of his men, they’ve cut off Anderson’s line of credit and they’re trying to collect from him.”
“Interesting, how long has that been happening?”
“Looks like about four months from what I’m seeing here.”
“Any details?”
Cypher was quiet for a moment, Hex didn’t know what the hacker was doing, other than scanning the triad of screens in front of him.
“Give me a sec, I’m still reading through shit.” Cypher continued to scan, clicking different things, moving others then reading some more.
Now that he’d learned some of what Elle’s ex was into, Hex was impatient to know it all.
He tipped back the can in his hand, forgetting for a moment what it was.
When the sugary flavor hit his tongue, he didn’t stop drinking or spit it out, but he couldn’t stop the shudder that worked its way down his entire body.
“God. How can you stand to drink this shit?” he asked when he’d finished. There was still about half of the weird concoction left, and he’d finish it, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever be desperate enough for caffeine to drink another one. Give him some good black coffee any day.
Cypher lifted one shoulder and let it fall as if it was no big deal.
“I like it. Plus, it’s not bitter like coffee, and you don’t have to find water to brew a pot or wait for it. Pop the can open, drink. It’s that simple.”
“It’s that gross, and I’ve eaten a lot of things that would send most men running.”
“Brother, we live in the south. We regularly eat things that would send most other men running.” Cypher shot him a look that clearly said he thought Hex had lost his mind.
Hex waved one hand.
“I don’t mean normal shit or us, I’m talking really weird shit, like shark, menudo and puffer fish.”
“You’ve eaten fugu?” Cypher stared at him with wide eyes.
Hex nodded. “I didn’t know what it was at the time, but yeah.”
“And menudo? That’s not all that different from chitlins, or not massively, other than the seasonings and shit, and I know you’ve eaten that.”
Hex shrugged, taking another pull from the can in his hand, but expecting the sweetness this time, and he didn’t shudder. Instead, he paced the small room while he let Cypher read and figure out what was going on.
After a few minutes, the hacker let out a low whistle. Hex turned to look at the monitors, not that he would understand what was there unless it was spelled out for him, still he looked but before he could ask what Cypher had found, the hacker started talking.
“Looks like they confronted Anderson, told him to pay up or else, got a little rough and he made a deal he’d pay it all back, with interest, at a whopping fifty percent, if they would give him until after the wedding.
From what was put into the messages he’s looking at getting a significant pay out after the wedding. ”
“That he likely won’t be getting now.” Hex blinked a couple of times while he considered the possibilities.
If he owed a hundred large, that he’d promised to pay back and a hundred and fifty, to someone who would do painful things like break bones and shatter joints as incentive to pay, and the money he’d been counting on to pay it off had just been jerked out from under him, what might he do to the person who had cost him that?
A lot.
“Elle doesn’t have any money. Any clue where he would be getting the money?” Hex asked.